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Biodiversity on agenda at Tanoa Tusitala

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A workshop on Samoa Sixth National Report (6NR) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (C.B.D.) was held at the Tanoa Tusitala Hotel yesterday.

The project aims to provide technical support to G.E.F-eligible Parties to the C.B.D. in their work to develop a high quality, data-driven sixth national report (6NR) that improves national decision-making processes for the implementation of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (N.B.S.A.Ps); that report on progress towards achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and inform both the fifth Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO5) and the Global Biodiversity Strategy of 2021 – 2030.

The objective of the workshop is to review of the first draft 6NR and identify gaps in the report and ways to improve it and update the report with relevant information from each respective stakeholders (government agencies, N.G.O’s, academia, communities etc.).

According to a statement, the challenge is that the rate of change of natural capital, open which economies and human wellbeing depend, are too fast for policy makers to adapt to, and an updated national report is required to understand changes in the status and trends of biodiversity, and their implications.

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This information will provide the main rational for the follow up work on the Strategic Plan beyond this decade and will help shape the post-2020 global biodiversity agenda. It is therefore essential that these reports provide an accurate and up-to-date reflection of national and global progress to address the Aichi Biodiversity Targets (A.B.Ts), said the statement.

There are two primary global environmental benefits to this project, according to the statement. First, it contributes to the global assessment of progress in achieving the A.B.Ts, and to an understanding of the national contributions made to the Strategic Plan by this progress.

The same information is also relevant to assessment of progress in addressing aspects of other international commitments including the SDGs. Second, it provides an important basis for consideration of the post-2020 global biodiversity strategy.

The information developed during this project can be used not only to understand current biodiversity status and trends, but also to understand how well a country’s actions are contributing to national and global conservation targets.

The results will provide a simultaneous and comparable snapshot of how countries are implementing C.B.D. obligations, and the results of those strategies and actions.

This project is an intervention in alignment with the G.E.F’s mandate to generate global benefits by paying for the incremental costs of planning and foundational enabling activities that countries implement to generate global biodiversity benefits.